"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

The Presidential Election And The High Price Of Medicine-- Bernie Sanders On Fire For America!

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Mainstream Pennsylvania conservative, Charlie Dent, made the GOP establishment case for Herr Trumpf over Cruz, pointing out that Herr Trumpf is "malleable," unlike the "rigid" (and uncontrollable) Cruz. Despite Trumpf alienating Hispanics, women and Muslims, Dent asserted that "The Republicans’ presidential nominee must build a winning coalition that extends beyond the Republican base. Running a campaign and expanding the coalition is an exercise in addition, not subtraction. Sounds more like an argument against Trumpf but he went on to say that "Ted Cruz is a rigid ideologue. Donald Trump is ideologically scattered and malleable. In my view, a more rigid ideology would have a much harder time assembling a winning general election coalition than the less doctrinaire candidate." In the 1930s, the top German industrialists and the social and political elites acquiesced-- and even financed-- the rise of fascism, convincing themselves that Herr Hitler was malleable and controllable. Were they ever wrong!Monday night, speaking in Farmingham, New Hampshire, Trumpf made an appeal that sounded more like one expects from Bernie Sanders than from any Republican. He embraced a long-time progressive goal-- consistently blocked by a coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats (paid off by Big Pharma)-- that would allow Medicare to be able to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to lower drug prices. On health care, the "malleable" Herr Trumpf has gone back and forth between single-payer and privatization-- polar opposites-- and no one really knows where he stands from one day to the next.

Since 1990, the Pharmaceutical industry has poured $175,745,221 into legalized bribes to members of Congress-- $100,162,120 to Republicans, $74,418,151 to Democrats-- as a means of dictating policies that have included banning Medicare pricing negotiations, which explains why the U.S. has the highest drug prices in the world. In the current election cycle, the members who have gotten the biggest bucks are:

These 5 corrupt political hacks are responsible for the high cost of pharmaceuticals today, although other major culprits include Paul Ryan (R-WI), Fred Upton (R-MI), Erik Paulsen (R-MN), and Ron Kind (New Dem-WI). On the presidential level, Big Pharma has invested heavily in just three malleable candidates, all participants in a pay-to-play politecs that should disqualify them from public office:

As for Bernie, he's been fighting conservatives over drug pricing legislation for many years before he ever imagined he'd be running for president. Watch the video above; it should blow your mind. In fact, yesterday Bernie announced that he and Ed Markey (D-MA) had placed a hold on Food and Drug Administration Commissioner nominee Dr. Robert Califf because of his close ties to the pharmaceutical industry and lack of commitment to lowering drug prices." Bernie joined Markey in demanding the FDA change its approach to addiction. "Too many Americans are dying from what has become an opioid epidemic. I also strongly believe that at a time when millions of Americans cannot afford to purchase the prescription drugs they require, we need a leader at the FDA who is prepared to stand up to the drug companies. We need someone who will work to substantially lower drug prices, implement rules to safely import brand-name drugs from Canada and hold companies accountable who defraud our government. Dr. Califf’s extensive ties to the pharmaceutical industry give me no reason to believe that he would make the FDA work for ordinary Americans, rather than just the CEOs of pharmaceutical companies."Bernie pointed out that last year, one in five Americans-- 35 million people-- were unable to afford to fill their prescriptions and that prices for some prescription drugs soared 1,000 percent or more in recent years. Since 2002, total spending on medicine in the United States went up by more than 90%. This isn't an election year issue for Bernie; it's what he's been working on in Congress since he was first elected and what he works on every single year. If you'd like to see him win the White House, you can help here.